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7.01.2014

#365feministselfie is halfway there!!

So the #365feministselfie project is officially at the halfway point! In case you haven't been following me on Instagram (why not?), the challenge was created by Veronica Arreola of Viva la Feminista in response to criticism of selfies and the women who take and post them. She challenged everyone to post a selfie every day
for an entire year. We are now officially six months in, with six months left to go...

Every day since January 1st I have taken a photo of
myself, swallowed my pride, shed my insecurities and shared it with the
world. It hasn't always been easy. At times I've grown bored of my own face and I've had days where I felt fat or ugly or sick or unhappy... but I've kept at it. Over the past six months, what started as a self-acceptance challenge (to put myself out there, flaws and all) turned into so much more. I've found myself a member of a group of women from so many
different walks of life (varying in age, race, sexual orientation,
socioeconomic status, political affiliation, etc.) also posting selfies. In doing so, the project has gone way beyond self-acceptance and crossed over into community.

Selfies are often criticized as attention-seeking or narcissistic but the pictures that have been shared aren't about that at all. Sure there are times when we've used our selfies to show off a new haircut or favorite dress or celebrated a milestone... but there have also been photos of women feeling sad, angry, tired, sick... We've shared hopes, goals, dreams, confessions, fears and frustrations... and in turn, we've offered support, advice, praise, commiseration and love. The selfie started out as a way for me to find own my own beauty but over the last six months it has also become a way for me to recognize the beauty in others.

Even though I haven't met most of these women in real life, they've each given me a very valuable gift - a brief glimpse into their lives every day. #365feministselfie has become a way of documenting the full life experience, good, bad, and everything in between. At the end of the year, I'll be grateful to have a record of this period in my life... but I feel even luckier to have shared this experience with so many amazing women.